Britain After Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400-1070The enormous hoard of beautiful gold military objects found in a field in Staffordshire has focused huge attention on the mysterious world of 7th and 8th century Britain. Clearly the product of a sophisticated, wealthy, highly militarized society, the objects beg innumerable questions about how we are to understand the people who once walked across the same landscape we inhabit, who are our ancestors and yet left such a slight record of their presence. Britain after Rome brings together a wealth of research and imaginative engagement to bring us as close as we can hope to get to the tumultuous centuries between the departure of the Roman legions and the arrival of Norman invaders nearly seven centuries later. As towns fell into total decay, Christianity disappeared, and wave upon wave of invaders swept across the island, it can be too easily assumed that life in Britain became intolerable--and yet this is the world in which modern languages and political arrangements were forged, a number of fascinating cultures rose and fell and tantalizing glimpses, principally through the study of buildings and burials, can be had of a surprising and resilient place. The result of a lifetime of work, Robin Fleming's major new addition to the Penguin History of Britain could not be more opportune. A richly enjoyable, varied, and surprising book, Britain after Rome allows its readers to see Britain's history in a quite new light. |
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User Review - Steve.Bivans - LibraryThingAbsolute MUST READ, if you want to know what life was like for the 99% that weren't kings or bishops. Fascinating narrative, woven together with thousands of threads of material evidence. If you want ... Read full review
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User Review - Caomhghin - LibraryThingI’ve always found this period, which used to be called the Dark Ages or the Age of Arthur or Anglo-Saxon, particularly interesting. Over the years interpretations, chronologies, events, facts on the ... Read full review